University of the Philippines (UP) students protested at the campuses in Manila and Los Baños on March 14 to again call for justice for the death of fellow Iskolar ng Bayan (the people’s scholar) Kristel Tejada. Tejada was a UP Manila freshman student who fell victim to the university’s “No Late Payment Policy” and took her own life on March 15, 2013.

Tejada committed suicide after being forced to stop her studies because she could not pay the ₱10,000 tuition for the semester. She was taking a BA Behavioral Science course at the time. Tejada’s father at the time of her death was a part-time taxi driver supporting four children.

Those calling for justice include the UP Office of the Student Regent, Katipunan ng mga Sangguniang Mag-aaral sa UP (KASAMA sa UP), and UP Solidaridad. “Kristel is just one of thousands of students who have fallen victim to the systematic problem in education that is a clear manifestation of a rotten and repressive system,” according to the three institutions’ joint statement.

They said that the country’s continuing neoliberal education system is unjustly victimizing Filipino students and youth. “Until now, this remains a hindrance to an affordable system that students deserve,” according to the statement.

Although UP students currently enjoy the fruits of the long-standing struggle for free education, the problem of lack of budget and budget cuts to the university remain. This 2025, UP’s budget will be reduced by ₱2.08 billion, from ₱24.77 billion to ₱22.70 billion.

Nationwide, state universities and colleges (SUC) will suffer from more than ₱1.055 trillion in budget cuts. “These budget cuts exacerbate the current problems students face in the university such as lack of facilities and classrooms, as well as inaccessible basic student services,” according to the statement.

Along with the budget cuts is the intensifying commercialization within the university, they said. At the UP campus in Diliman, Quezon City, DiliMall was built as a private business that will be occupied by PowerMac, UCC, Robinsons and other profit-hungry big businesses.

The commercialization policy is being implemented amid a large shortage of faculty facilities, student spaces and buildings for the community’s academic needs.

“We believe that no youth should be relegated to a rotten system and that we must continue to fight for and call for education as everyone’s right and must be accessible to the Filipino masses especially the marginalized,” according to the statement.